RAM FASHION INTERNATIONAL, BANGKOK

This site was built by former clients to warn you about RAM FASHION INTERNATIONAL in Bangkok.

WARNING: THIS IS A SCAM TAILOR

"Welcome to Thailand. Looking for tailor?"

We went to Ram Fashion International, saw quite a few foreigners busy with fitting and the whole shop looked quite nice. Especially the presence of so many foreigners gave us a comfortable feeling and we decided to give it a go. Never have we been so incredibly disappointed. The entire result was terrible. Then we met someone who actually works in fashion industry and carries some understanding of how patternmaking and tailoring are supposed to work. They came along for the remaining visits to the store.

The quality and workmanship displayed by Ram Fashion International was horrendous. A tailor made dress, which was supposed to fit, did not fit at all. The ladies jacket they were supposed to make, looked more like a man's jacket. The man's suit they made was wearable, but full of workmanships faults to the extend that it was better to buy a ready made suit. Because we all teamed up, brought in some of our own expertise and worked together we managed to get the best out of a really bad situation.

As opposed to just ranting about Ram Fashion International tailors in Bangkok we all set together and decided to set up this website to not only warn you to stay away from Ram Fashion International, but also explain why they are incapable. We hope this adds to our case and will help preventing you making a bad decision of going there. Scroll down to see photos.

Before we start, let us point out that Ram Fashion International is not unique in their behaviour. We have reports from several independant sources that the same may be observed from Manhattan Tailors, Voglee Export Tailors and James Tailors. We have no personal experience though so do not take our word for it. However, the general rule of thumb is: Do not go to any tailor recommended to you by a taxi driver, tuktuk driver, guide or "friend". Here are A bunch of handy tips on finding a good tailor.

Here we go...(scroll down). We explain the scam first, then why they are incapable.

How the scam works

There are several aspect to how the whole scam of Ram Fashion International works. Let us go through them.

Scam #1: The tuktuk driver gets between 30% and 40% of whatever you pay to Ram Fashion International.

At some point you get in a tuktuk. The tuktuk driver asks you if you need a tailor. He will recommend you one. If you already have another tailor in mind he will talk bad about your tailor and come back to his recommendation. He will take you to Ram Fashion International.

Scam #2: The guide is in on it, and tells the store everything about you upfront.

Maybe you did not find the tuktuk yourself. If you go to the grand palace or any of the other temples and do a tour with a guide, then the guide got your tuktuk for you. Maybe the guide did not even talk about a tailor and his choice for a tuktuk seemed random. That is far from the truth. While doing the tour, the guide probably asked you where you are from, what you do for a living, etc. He then brings you to a tuktuk that will recommend Ram Fashion International. While you are on your way, the guide calls the store and tells him everything he already knows about you. The tailor at the store can then optimize his sales pitch for you.

Scam #3: Your return ticket back home is their ticket out of the discussion.

Either the guide, the tuktuk driver or the tailor at the store asks you when you are leaving and you tell them (tip: do not, never!). Then you talk about when the suit, dress, jacket, whatever will be done. It will be done at some point in time. You come back for fitting and it does not fit. Period. They promise changes and you come back to find that they have done some changes, but nearnly nothing you agreed. They appologise, promise to fix and your departure date is nearing. At your final visit to the store, hours before your plane leaves they still have not made any serious progress. All you can do now is leave and loose your deposit or pay for the poor clothes.

Ram Fashion International will intentionally schedule the production of your work in such a way that you run out of arguing time. By the time you leave, they have their money and you have a poor suit or dress. We argued until almost midnight to get money back and they never bent. They know you will leave and that is their stronghold in the negotiations. While you need a suit, they only need to wait it out.

Never, never, never, never tell any tailor - or any producer of any goods for that matter - when you leave while having something produced in a foreign country.

Why Rama Fashion International in Bangkok is incapable as a tailor

This goes into why they miss the necessary skills to actually be a good tailor. It is not only that they did a poor job for us. While we where there we witnessed the same happening to other clients. Apart from them being scammers, they actually miss out in the knowledge you need for good tailoring. Here is why:

Reason #1: They do not correctly match a choice of fabric with a chosen suit or dress.

Especially with dresses (but also for men's wear) this is very important and here is why:

They will ask you what you want. You browse through a book with pictures of beautiful dresses. You pick one and say 'this is what I want'. They say 'ok' and ask you what fabric you would like. You look through the store at all the different fabrics. You find a nice one and say 'this is what I want' and they say 'ok'.

HOLD ON! This implies that every dress can be made from every kind of fabric. Even without having any indepth tailoring experience you can quickly see how this cannot be true. If you picked a dress that is supposed to fall in many tiny pleats, almost wave-like, then this requires a fabric that can actually do that. Thick fabrics cannot do that. In fact, you would need a very, very thin fabric to fall like that with an inner layer that does not fall into those pleats to prevent the shine-through. And, even if you picked a fabric that you think is very thin then trust us: it needs to be even thinner than that.

This is exactly what happened to us when we had a red dress done and by the time we brought in some extra expertise, it was already too late. Another case we witnessed involved the choice of a dress that required to be a thicker fabric. However, the chosen fabric was thin white. Thin white will shine through and therefore in the end result you could see the seam allowance as a white band stretching from top to bottom over the back. In both cases the end result did not relate to the original picture which is logical given the combination of fabric and choice of dress.

The point is, a good tailor will advice you well, because as a client you cannot be expected to understand the implications of your choices. If you choose a dress from a picture, your tailor must tell you 'ok, then you can pick your fabrics only from this side of the store because the others are not suitable for that dress'. The problem with Ram Fashion International is that they do not do this or only at a very poor level. The result is that you will not get what you want.

Reason #2: They do not know (or refuse to see) what is wrong with a piece.

After they have measured you they will make your piece for a first fitting. Quite normally, the arms may not be attached yet. They will do that in a later stage. However, when you come in for the first fitting the whole question revolves around making sure that your tailor made suit or tailor made dress actually fits you. Done professionally, this involves the tailor going over the entire piece and using pins to mark adjustments. Typically, the tailor - having done so many pieces during his carreer - needs almost no assistance from you, or even none at all.

Ram Fashion International in Bangkok sums up this entire process in a single question: what do you think?

WHOAAH! Hold on again! Are you, as a customer, charged with answering that question? The whole point of spending money at a tailor to have a piece of clothing tailor-made is that you are paying good money to have them do that for you! Let alone the fact that you probably do not have the skills to actually see all the details that are involved in proper fitting. (and we are not bashing on you. While you may very well say that you feel it does not fit right, can you also specify which particular change must be made to get the desired result?)

In the particular case of this blouse we turned the question around and asked Ram Fashion International what they think is wrong with the blouse you see on the right. All they could said was 'it is a little small but perfect'. While that is true, the entire pattern is actually wrong. The shoulder drop is too steep, the dartseam is too high, the armhole is done wrong and the front neck drop is too high, to name but a few things.

Then they say, 'just tell me what you want to change. I will change it' which is not what you should need to do as a customer. And even as they try their entire process of fixing things revolves around making (poor) changes to an existing pattern.

In the case of the red dress, the white dress and this blouse fixing it would require making a new pattern, cutting new fabric and making an entire new piece from scratch. However, that requires extra investment which they are unwilling to make and therefor they will cut and change until it is time for you to get on your plane while the reality is that cutting and changing a piece that is made from a wrong pattern will never fix any issue if the pattern was made wrong in the first place.

Reason #3: They do not know how to properly make a pattern. Especially not for ladies wear.

If a tailor takes your measurements they will draw all the pieces of fabric on paper which acts as a mold to cut out the actual fabric. Any changes made during the fitting sessions with pins are then reflected into the pattern. If the pattern was originally made properly, an extra dartseam or other change is all that is required to make the piece perfect. However, if the pattern is fundamentally drawn wrong the piece will fit so bad that the required chance involves a complete new pattern and newly cut fabric (which they will not do).

In the industry there are people that specialize in men's patterns and women's patterns, simply because the shapes are different. Women have many more curves and making a pattern for women is generally considered harder. Now, while the pattern makers at Ram Fashion International seem to be somewhat ok at making men's patterns they are certainly unqualified for making women's patterns. Then, whatever they make starts out wrong and can never be corrected anymore afterwards.

So, men's shapes are less complicated and some of their clients will assume things actually fit when they do not (some will not even notice any serious defects) you may even find men in the world who will state that they are happy with the suit they have gotten. Good for them but we will move on.

Reason #3: They have poor workmanship.

When it comes down to the actual work that needs to be done like sewing they basically do a poor job. Now, while that may not be of a concern to you think about it. Why would you go here if all you need is a poor job. Pretty much everything we saw that involves craftmanship was of poor quality.

Reason #4: They leave important bits out to save them money.

You will probably know that a suit jacket has shoulder pads. Did you also know that it has pads in the top of the arm sleeves? Maybe not and Ram Fashion International builds their profit from the fact that you don't. The purpose of the pads in the arm sleeves is to make the fabric in the top of the arm sleeve fall down properly from the shoulder. Without them you can see dents and bulges. Ram Fashion International does not put them thereby saving on money (for them) and quality (for you). If you ask why they do not put them in they say it is only for ladies which is plain false.

Reason #5: They use the cheapest (and fake) materials available

Last but not least, their shop is full of cheap fabrics of poor quality. Not what you would seek if you actually want something tailor made. We asked about some fabrics and were told they were cashmir, when actually they were plastic.

When a piece does not fit at all because the pattern is wrong they will have to cut new fabric. They will avoid that and simply claim that the unfitting piece 'looks beautiful'.

Our experience

The bit above pretty much sums it all up. There is little to add. With the extra expertise we brought in ourselves we were able to work on the pieces we already had and pretty much do all the fitting work that Ram Fashion International should have done. That resulted in a portion of our order to be sufficient enough to pay for while we went to another tailor to do the others.

The other tailor was Suraj Poldel at Euro Fashion in Erawan House in the alley of Khaosan Road close to Phra Arthit Road. He did a good job making a fitting ladies jacket and blouse. While he may not (yet) bring in Italian grade tailoring, he lived up to his promise, was patient, needed no help in fitting and made good recommendations. We also did two men's suits and ten shirts. His fabrics were very nice and his quality matched the price that we paid. We would not have gotten that job done for that quality in Europe for the same price.

As for Ram Fashion International: we have sent them the link to this page to get their comments, but have not yet heard from them.